I was born in a time before most vaccines. I endured regular and German measles (rubella), mumps, and chickenpox. I knew kids who endured whooping cough and polio (I never had polio, but my mom did).
These were not diseases that magically appeared--they "traveled' around, carried by people. A community that had been free of one of these diseases would eventually have a wave of incidents as the virus was carried into the community by an unwitting victim... and eventually most of those whose immune systems couldn't fight it off got it... and then the disease would fade away because the remaining people were able to resist it. A few years later, the process would repeat when again someone brought the virus back into the town.
My kids have not had any of those diseases. They and the vast majority of other kids around them were vaccinated against them. Unfortunately vaccines aren't 100% effective, so those who weren't vaccinated sometimes became carriers amongst themselves and to those whose vaccinations failed to protect them. Still, smallpox is gone (for now, but that's another story) and most other of those diseases became rare for a while.
Unfortunately, a British doctor faked some research and convinced a lot of people that vaccines were dangerous and causing autism. His twaddle is still out there on the Internet, but at least he was caught and punished for his lies (stripped of his license). And the rates of infection for those once rare diseases have climbed. Children are much more at risk for those diseases... Diseases which were fought for a reason: those diseases killed many kids and crippled many of the survivors.
Now, I don't think unvaccinated kids should be marked in any way... but I'd be happier about all this if there were a reliable way to keep my grandkids away from their generation's disease carriers. Yes, my daughter is getting her kids vaccinated, but since the shots aren't 100% effective, there will still be the risk of disease from those who aren't vaccinated. And that means a lot of kids, even some of the vaccinated ones, are going to get polio, measles, mumps, etc. and are going to suffer needlessly.
Bad science is used by charlatans to bamboozle people into joining their ranks, contribute to their cause, buy videos or books, or just read their twaddle online so they can be paid by those whose ads appear on their webpages.
Please don't be fooled. Kids' lives are at risk.
These were not diseases that magically appeared--they "traveled' around, carried by people. A community that had been free of one of these diseases would eventually have a wave of incidents as the virus was carried into the community by an unwitting victim... and eventually most of those whose immune systems couldn't fight it off got it... and then the disease would fade away because the remaining people were able to resist it. A few years later, the process would repeat when again someone brought the virus back into the town.
My kids have not had any of those diseases. They and the vast majority of other kids around them were vaccinated against them. Unfortunately vaccines aren't 100% effective, so those who weren't vaccinated sometimes became carriers amongst themselves and to those whose vaccinations failed to protect them. Still, smallpox is gone (for now, but that's another story) and most other of those diseases became rare for a while.
Unfortunately, a British doctor faked some research and convinced a lot of people that vaccines were dangerous and causing autism. His twaddle is still out there on the Internet, but at least he was caught and punished for his lies (stripped of his license). And the rates of infection for those once rare diseases have climbed. Children are much more at risk for those diseases... Diseases which were fought for a reason: those diseases killed many kids and crippled many of the survivors.
Now, I don't think unvaccinated kids should be marked in any way... but I'd be happier about all this if there were a reliable way to keep my grandkids away from their generation's disease carriers. Yes, my daughter is getting her kids vaccinated, but since the shots aren't 100% effective, there will still be the risk of disease from those who aren't vaccinated. And that means a lot of kids, even some of the vaccinated ones, are going to get polio, measles, mumps, etc. and are going to suffer needlessly.
Bad science is used by charlatans to bamboozle people into joining their ranks, contribute to their cause, buy videos or books, or just read their twaddle online so they can be paid by those whose ads appear on their webpages.
Please don't be fooled. Kids' lives are at risk.
